6/6/20 Warming up

  From Port Denison we headed north again - todays destination , Kalbarri . It's definitely warmer today and makes the drive much more pleasant . Stopping at Geraldton for fuel and continuing on was a bit strange - we normally stop here for a few days or more , not today however .

  The highway has been surprisingly quiet , we expected that there would be many more people doing what we are , but no . 

  Through to Northampton and we turn off toward Port Gregory , the roads are becoming very familiar to us - must have been here too many times haha . We drove in past Pink Lake to Port Gregory and pulled up in the carpark beside the beach - a great spot for lunch . 

  Back onto the road past the lake , which has more water in it than last year and was pink , but there was so much reflection you didn't really notice the colour much . 

  It wasn't too much longer and we were in the National Park , and then in Kalbarri . We went to the park we stayed at last year and were gobsmacked at how quiet it was - we were customer number 6 !! This park is normally quite full and busy , not at the moment though - Covid 19 has taken it's toll , some businesses have closed , several shops are empty . 

 The sky looked interesting so we headed out to the coastal NP and Pot Alley lookout to watch the sunset . The colours of the cliffs were quite colourful when all lit up by the setting sun .

 Colours change as the sun ducks behind clouds and again as it comes out again .

 This is a spectacular piece of coastline , and it changes dramatically as the sun gets lower - it would be awesome to watch this from a boat .

  The sun disappeared beyond the horizon , so we headed back into town for some fish & chips . While we were waiting we headed across the road to the Murchison River estuary , It made for some stunning reflections .

  Back to the van for tea and the temperature was still 25 degrees at 7pm - we were like the cat that got the canary .
 Had a round of golf today - 1st one in 3 months - no wonder it wasn't that great haha - only had 9 competition games in the last 12 months !
  Well there you are , all up to date , stay tuned 😎

4/6/20 Time to hide and time to run

  Well what the hell happened 10 weeks ago , the world went absolutely nuts . It went quickly though - only felt like 2 years .

 We filled the ute with fuel 3 times since we left Albany - it didn't know what was happening , sometimes it didn't move for 4 or 5 days - the spiders moved in and found lot's of new places for their webs . Overall it was our least expensive time for fuel ever !! so that wasn't such a bad thing .

  The whole Covid 19 thing reinforced to us that we aren't ready to settle down anytime soon .

  Enough of that , we were staying at Bonneys Ski Park - where we have spent quite a bit of time over the past 3 years , but it was probably the best place to stay away from everyone during all the drama . There were only 7 other vans , so 14 other people that we got on well with .

  The camera didn't get used for 10 weeks and I was surprised to find the battery still charged up . Fortunately the phone was with me to catch all these photos - yes sunsets seemed to appear to us , here's a couple of them .

We isolated ourselves as requested , keeping ourselves as safe as possible , luckily for us we were here in WA where there hasn't been a lot of cases - only those from cruise ships and sick people coming back after being evacuated from overseas .
  The weather cooled as time went on , and we had a few nights with a fire pit burning to keep us warm while we had the odd happy hour or two .

 After about week 6 , our lockdown was relaxed a little so we had a day out at Rockingham with Dave & Sue ( fellow inmates haha ) . This is the pier at the western end of Rockingham Beach looking toward Garden Island .

  Another happy hour and another sunset .



 There's a couple of bandicoots that come around of an evening , they are pretty used to people and don't mind running around under your chairs in search of any food they can find . This is one that came along to say goodbye to us the other night .



  We are now lucky to have the restrictions eased in WA and we can start to head north to some warmer weather - we don't like the cold anymore !!
 
  It was like we had just started to travel again , the smiles on our faces got bigger & bigger as we headed off , the weather was on our side as well , a nice sunny day with no wind . Within an hour we were clear of Perth and into the coastal country north of Perth . We were on a mission today and our destination was Cliff Head and a free camp - bit of a problem there - Irwin Shire Council has closed the campground due to the virus - I rang them and asked when it would be opened and they wouldn't say - they did say that there was a dead whale there as well ?????
 Back out onto the highway again and on to Port Denison to the caravan park - all the free camps are closed - I think they will lose money in Dongara due to this decision , people will not stop and spend money as regularly as they did .
  Anyway , we arrived , setup and went for a walk along the beach , it was really nice not to need to wear a jumper . Another sunset and this time the bird went for a fly .

 The sun bathed the rocks in orange as it went down .

 Colours of the water , sand , rocks etc look much better from above .

  This is the boat harbour .

  And there you have it , we are at it again and loving it , see ya 😎

8/4/20 Hit & Run

 After a few days at Esperance , we headed back toward Albany . It was a bit eerie , not a lot of traffic  and the feeling we shouldn't be out there - not to mention the 40 klm/hr headwind we were driving into - still we were on a mission , we had to be in Albany first thing Monday morning for someone to check out the van and our other slide out problem .

  We arrived at Ravensthorpe and refuelled - plastic gloves were on all the fuel bowsers , town was deathly quiet , it was Saturday , but you still expect to see people , no today . Fuelled up we headed off again , next stop was lunch in a rest area , before the next stop at Jerramungup . This was where we turned off Hwy1 and went to the little town of Ongerup , we'd come this way on the way to Esperance last week , so it was nice to stop somewhere else on the way back .

 We setup after picking our spot , the caretaker came out to see us later on and organised payment . We headed out for a walk , Ongerup is another small town in the wheatbelt region of WA , with large wheat storage facilities , and some really good sporting facilities - a large Aussie rule field/cricket field , bowling greens , tennis & basketball courts and a large clubhouse as well .

  We're also back in salmon gum country , so it goes without saying , I've taken photos of them - beautiful trees !!

 Here's a different view .

  The colours are beautiful .

  Next day we headed south and were faced with views of The Stirling Ranges - the eastern end with Bluff Knoll the highest point .

 Bushfires devastated this area in January this year and damaged a lot of the eastern side of the park , this is looking toward Mt Trio , the fires went straight over the top of it , as well as Bluff Knoll .

 These are taken looking back toward Bluff Knoll .

Grasstrees are always the first thing to start the regrowth process off .

  One of the hazards leftover from the fires , trees that have been burnt out at ground level and fall over days , weeks or months later .

  We stopped at a free camp 30klms from Albany - it was beside the hwy but was very quiet .
Next morning we headed into Albany for someone else to have a look at the van - Cameron Caravans have stopped doing a lot of repair work for the moment and are just doing their own customers vans at the moment . The other repairer was great , but they couldn't get to the bottom of the problem , so we put it back together and hit the road again , this time it was back to Perth and to the ski park where we have spent many weeks before . We know it will be a good place to be able to isolate ourselves at for however long this pandemic goes for . Our plans to go to Europe for 3 months have been chucked out the window as well , certainly has thrown a curve ball at us all .
  From us to you , we trust you survive this pandemic without any problems , these blogs will still happen , but probably a lot slower though .
 Here's a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1tkZooylkWmOVCaxs2E9f1xGqr9z0IuVo&usp=sharing

28/3/20 Out of Esperance

  From Borden we drove into Esperance and set up camp for a couple of days , Maree & Kevin were on their way down here as well and we'll catch up tomorrow . 

  They arrived next day and we had the weekend to catch up , before we headed out to Condingup with them . The free camp is at the Community Hall and football oval , we set up down at the bottom corner and had some lunch before heading out for a drive to Duke of Orleans Bay - we'd been out here last year and loved it , so we decided we needed to show Maree & Kevin what we have been raving about . Here's our setup .

   This is the view of the town & oval .

 Out to the bay we go , and here it is with Table Island on the left .



  Duke of Orleans Bay has a caravan park and not much else , we drove past and over to Little Wharton Beach - this is a special part of WA !!

 After walking and climbing the rocks we found another beach , then another and another . The water is so clear here and amazing colours .

  Back to the top of the hill for more views over the beach and out to the many islands of the Recherche Archipelago .

  Now we were back down to Wharton Beach - yep still as beautiful as the first time we saw it - a perfect curve of beach stretching off into the distance , crystal clear water - perfection . Maree & kevin were suitably impressed as well .

  Next day we headed east parallel to the coast and called into Membinup Beach , this is what we found .

 And this was from above , how's the colour !



  And another .



  Back in the ute and further east we got into Cape Arid NP and probably the worst corrugated road we'd been on since our Cape York trip 3 years ago !! After what seems an eternity of corrugations , we found Seal Creek Beach , so we had a break from the bumps for a while , it was pretty breezy and cool , but still a nice place to be .

 Lunch was had at the campground , then we went to Poison creek Beach , but the corrugations had taken there toll and we had a quick look & left - glad we came here for a look , but we probably won't be back for a 2nd time anytime soon .
   Next day we went back to Wharton Beach , back to paradise - here's the view from the walking track to the beach .

 We went for a stroll along the beach , while Kevin went back & got the car and met us at the vehicle access track . We all got in and went for a drive along the beach , the sand was nice & firm and easy to drive on .

  The beach stretches about 4klms to the western end of the bay - here it is .

      Getting to this end of the beach was a surprise for us , Cape Le Grande NP boundary was half way along the beach , and we found an entry sign where the last photo was taken . The map showed we were not far from Victoria Harbour beach , so we continued through more firm sandy tracks with the occasional wind blown soft sand patches , and arrived to another stunning beach and granite headland .

  We wandered down the beach and onto the headland giving us another spectacular view - WOW !

  Someone gave me a photo taken from above , pretty cool photo .

  Hard to top that , so we headed back to celebrate with a quiet beer or three .
 Now while we'd been out here the virus had started to get serious - we didn't have any reception on the phone or tv , so we were a bit oblivious to it except for what Maree & Kevin were telling us , and it didn't sound great .
 Next day we headed back into Esperance and rang Pink Lake CP and got a site - we stayed here last year & it was full , this was our view !!!



  The place was empty , people from the eastern states had mostly all headed back east before they closed down the borders a few days ago . Maree & Kevin decided they'd do the same after calling SA Police to find out for sure what was happening there - they were allowed to transit the state on their way home , but they couldn't stop for any site seeing etc , they had to drive , rest & drive some more , overnight stops were allowed . They made it through SA and into NSW before anything else happened - now they get to self isolate for 2 weeks .
 Here's a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1hp2CKXK1GSKRyMGa7Qoah7bhYL7R795g&usp=sharing

27/3/20 Gracetown to Borden

  From Bunbury , we headed down to Gracetown in the Margaret River Region , and stopped there for 3 nights . You just have to go out to the coast and check out some of their surfing spots .

  Some of the locals were out & about catching some waves , oh and some air .

  This is Gracetown from above , the houses seem to be cut into the shrubbery on the hillside .



 And again .



  This is looking south , there are numerous surfing spots down there , just need to know where to go .



  A front was coming in , and the clouds put on a show for us .

 AT Gracetown we found a walking track that headed out to the southern headland of the bay . It wound through a grove of Tea Trees .

  A bit further down we discovered this dry stone wall and stainless steel monument , as well as the surfboard shaped seat . There are 9 names in the stainless steel - these are the adults & children who died here when the cliff collapsed under them . They were on the cliff watching a school surfing competition between Margaret River and Gracetown Primary Schools - 5 parents and 4 children died.
 Very moving !!



 We headed to Prevelly , home of the Margaret River Pro Surfing Competition , this is where Margaret River flows out to sea - when there's not a beach in the way that is .

 And again .

  The madness of Corona Virus has reached here as well - supermarkets cleaned out of most of it's stock . We tried to do some shopping , but couldn't get everything we wanted - not a potato , sweet potato , onion to be seen . Moving over to the meat section , there was 2 small pieces of scotch fillet , some prepacked turkey meat , but nothing else - no chicken , no mince , no lamb , no pork . Then no pasta , rice & flour & definitely no toilet paper - what is it about toilet paper , you can only use so much !!
  From there we started towards Esperance to meet my sister & brother in law . We drove through Nannup to Manjimup & through to Cranbrook before stopping for the night at the small town of Borden .
  This was some of the magnificent forest we drove through .

  This 45m specimen of Jarrah is the " King Jarrah " just outside Manjimup , there's also a nice forest walk .

  Fuelled up at Cranbrook and headed off again , the road took us along the northern edge go the Stirling Range National Park , resulting in some nice views .

 Further down we were looking directly at Bluff Knoll , the great walk I did last year to the top . This year it's completely different , fires over December and January have decimated the park . As we drove further the scale of the fire took hold - no wonder the park has been closed to camping and walking .

 Grass trees seem to be the first thing to start the regrowth phase after the fires - these 2 looked good .

 This is Mt Trio , the fires burnt the lot from top to bottom .

  With the fire devastation behind us , we drove up there road a bit further to the little town of Borden where we camped the night after a long day driving .
 Here's a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1TsPVCH2tDqgz_oH-1W0nTClaKPgsSnLA&usp=sharing